Thermal control adjuster



' the sleeve 1.

Patented Oct. 26, 1943 l THERMAL CONTROL ADJU STER James L. Breese,Santa Fe, N. Mex., assignor to Oil Devices, Santa Fe, N. Mex., a limitedpartnership of Illinois Application February 3, 1941, Serial No. 377,143

My invention relates to an improvement in control valves and has for onepurpose the provision of a thermally controlled valve applicable for usewith liquid fuel lines'. I

Another purpose is the provision of a control valve in which the flow ofoil may be caused to vary in response to temperature conditions.

Another purpose is the provision of such a valve in which the responseof a valve to temperature changes may be adjusted or controlled.

Another purpose is the provision of means for interrupting or cuttingout the thermal control.

Other objects will appear from time to time throughout the speciiicationand claims.v

I illustrate my invention more or less diagrammatically in theaccompanying. drawing, wherein- Figure l is a vertical longitudinalsection through a iloat valve and chamber;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Figure l.

Like. parts are indicated by like characters throughout thespecification and drawing.

Referring to the drawing, I indicates any suitable iioat chamber havinga removable cover plate 2. 3 is a fuel line adapted to deliver a liquidfuel to the chamber I from any suitable fuel source not herein shown.-It communicates with the fuel inlet passage 4 having a bore 5 andavalve seat 6. 'I is a sleeve extending upwardly abovev the inletpassage 4 and having a somewhat 7 Claims. (Cl. 236-99) valve.- The valvestem 23 has an upward prolongation 21 of smaller diameter which may besuitable abutment 30 on the Yvalve stem 23.

larger bore 8.y 9 are liquid flow passages above the valve seat formedin the sleeve lo is a bracket upwardly and outwardly extending fromMounted thereon as at I I, is a valve control lever l2 secured at theouter end of which is a suitable iloat I3. Axially movable within thebore is a valve stem I4 which is loosely ltted to the lever I2 as at I5.It may include, for example, a conic valveportion I6 adapted to engagethe valve seat 6. It will be understood that when the level of liquidfuel` within the chamber I, reaches a predetermined height, the oat I3rises and moves the valve I6 into closed position, thus cutting 01T anyfurther supply of fuel to the chamber I.

20 is a liquid fuel outlet line extending, for example, to any suitableburner or` other fuel consuming mechanism not herein shown. 2l is a fueloutlet passage member extending upwardly f Pivoted on the bracket Ill asat 3| is a bell crank lever having a generally vertical arm 32 and agenerally horizontal arm 33. The horizontal arm 33 may be apertured asat 34 to permit the valve stem extension to pass therethrough and thearm 33 abuts against any suitable shoulder 35y of the valve stem. 36isany suitable heat responsive member herein shown as a bellows with acommunicating passage 3'I to any suitable bulb not here shown. It willbe understood that in response to heat conditions, at the burner orelsewhere, the bellows may expand as the temperature rises Yand maycontract as the temperature drops. The bellows is formed with a member38 carrying any suitable pin or stem 39 which may engage a depression 40in the bell crank lever arm 32. 1t will be observed that as the bellows3E expands, lt exerts pressure against the lever 32 which tends todepress the vother bell crank lever arm 33 and thus to close the valvestem 33 against the compression of the spring 29, thus cutting down theflow of fuel along the line 20. The

' eiect of heat on the expansion of the bellows 3B may be varied,however, by means susceptible of manual adjustment. I illustrate, forexample, a control knob 3|, having a stem 42, screw threaded in anysuitable bearing 43 mounted on or formed in the cover 2. The lower endof the stem 42 engages the bell crank lever arm 44 of a lever pivoted asat 45 in relation` to the iloat chamber. A lower or depending bell cranklever 46 is opposed to the bell crank lever arm 32 and between them iscompressed aspring 47 whichtends to resist the expansion .of the bellows36. The compression of the spring 41 may be adjusted by rotation of themanual knob 4I as its rotation causes the stem 42 to rise or fall inrelation to the cover 2. I may, limit this rotation, for example, by anysuitable pins or suitable range of rotation of the knob 4I but I haveindicated a rotation of about -degrees.

It will be understood that the cover may be provided with any suitablecalibration so that the user may set the knob at high, mediumlow or offor any desired intermediate settings. It will be understood, forexample, that more than the four positions herein shown in Figure 2 maybe calibrated. In order to cut out or short circuit the thermal control,I provide means associated with or operated by the knob 4I forpositively moving the valve stem 23 to the minimum flow or off position.I illustrate, for example, a cam 53 located below and rotating with theknob 4|. Any suitable cam may be employed but I find it advantageous toemploy. a spring cam. This cam, when the knob 4I ismoved to the offpositionoverrides the upward extension 28 of thevalve stem 23 andpositively closesi the valve against the compression of the spring 29and entirely cuts out the operation of the above described bellows. Inother words, when the knob 4| is moved counterclockwise to 180 degrees,referring to the position of the parts in Figure 2, the cam53 iseiective positively to move the valve to a minimum setting and nochanges in temperature or changes in expansion or contraction of thebellows 36 will have any eect on the setting of the valve stem 23. Atall othertimes, however, the bellows may effectively control the valveby shutting it off' in response to expansion of the bellows by heatingof the bulb in communication with the passage 31,. The response of thebellows to temperature conditions is in such case controlled or variedby the compression of the spring 41, which in turn is controlled by themanual setting of the knob 4 I.

It will be understood that, whereas I have shown a very simple form ofcontrol, with the direct connection between the adjusting knob and thevalve stem, in more complicated forms of control it may be necessary toemploy intermediate levers, linkages, or the like.

Lt will be realized that my description and drawing are in a broad senseillustrative or diagrammaticv and that I do not wish to be limited tothe specic showing herein. Many changes may be made in the size, shape,number, proportion and disposition of parts without departingfrom thespirit of my invention. I may,

for example, have any suitable intermediate actuating connection betweenthe knob 4| and the stem 23 and the employment of a bellows l is merelyan illustration of a practical heat responsive element.

The-use and operation of my device are as follows: In controlling theflow of liquid fuel, for example. to a pot type burner, although mycontrol may be used with other types of burner, I find it advantageousto provide both a mechanical shut off and a thermally responsivecontrol. Assume that the operator of it off altogether or to set it at apilot minimum;V

the burner wishes to turn/ he need only so actuate the knob 4| oritsequivalent that the valve stem 23 is positively closed. If the partsare proportioned for a complete shut off, then no fuel at all will flow.If an oil pilot is employed with the burner, the valve'23 may be soproportioned and set as to permit the passage of a minimum flow of fuelsufficient to maintain pilot combustion when the valve stem is movedinto its minimum ilow position. Assume, however, that the operatorwishes to have the ow of fuel respond to heat conditions at the burneror elsewhere, he then moves the control knob 4| in such position as toplace the cam 53 out ofl line with the valve stem extension 28. The flowthrough the line 20 is then basically governed by the expansion andcontraction of the bellows 36 or its equivalent. For example, in theform herein shown, an ,increase in heat causes an expansion of the fluidwithin the bellows/36 and thereby causes a thrust .iof'the pin 39against the lever arm 32 which is'effective to, move the lever arm 33downwardly and thus depress the valve 23. This reduces or cuts off theow of fuel depending upon the degree of expansion of the bellows 36, andcausing the controlling temperature to drop. This in turn causes acontraction of the bellows 36 and permits the arm 33 to rise and spring29 to move the valve stem 23 to a more open position. The user cancontrol or adjust the response of the valve stem 23 to the expansion orcontraction of the bellows 36 byvarying the spring loading provided bythe coil spring 4l under compression between the lever arms 32 and 46.This variation or control of the spring loading is obtained by rotatingthe knob 4| in the particular embodiment of the invention hereindescribed and shown. If the knob 4| is so rotated as to cause the screwthreaded stem 42 to descend, then the loading the spring 41 is increasedand the expansion of the bellows 36 is resisted. Therefore, greater heatis required to expand the bellows .36 sufficiently to move the valve 23to the closed or pilot position.

'I claim: l

l. In a valve structure for controlling the iiow of liquid fuels, a fuelchamber and means for maintaining a supply of liquid fuel therein, afuel outflow line in communication therewith, a valve seat therefor, amovable valve memberadapted to move toward and away from said seat, aheat 'responsive element and means for varying the setting of Asaidvalve in responseto actuation of said heat responsive element, and meansfor varying the movement of said heat responsive element and thus forvarying its effect upon the seating of said valve in response totemperature changes, including spring loading means aligned withandopposed to said heat responsive element and means for varying theloading of said spring loading means including an exterior manuallymovable control element and a connection between `said control elementand said spring loading means, and an additional connection `betweensaid manually operable control element and said valve means independentof 'and in parallel with the spring loading means and the connectionbetween the control element and the spring loading means adaptedat oneposition of said manually operable control element to move said valvemeans independently of the operation of said 'heat responsive element. J

2. In a valve structure for controlling the flow of liquid fuels and thelike, a fuel chamber and means for maintaining a supply of liquid fueltherein, a fuel outflow passage in communication therewith-and a fuelvalve adapted to control iiow through the passage, a lever adapted tocontrol the position of the valve, a heat responsive element adapted torotate the lever, spring means aligned in opposition to the heatresponsive element adapted to resist movement of the valve in theclosing direction and manually controlled means adapted to vary thee'ect of the spring, said manually controlled means being movable tovary the effect of the spring throughout a predetermined range andpositive means controlled toward the lower extremity ofthe range ofmovement thereof for positively closing the valve.

3. A control for oil burners and the like comprising a oat chamber,spaced fuel inlet and outlet passages, a bracket associated with thefuel inlet, a lever pivoted on the bracket, a iloat at one end. and afuel inlet control valve at the other end of the lever, a metering valvefor the fuel outlet, yielding means tending to urge the metering valvetoward the open position, a heat responsive element in the housing, avalve actuating bell crank lever pivoted on the float lever bracket,having a generally horizontal arm loosely engaging the metering valve, ashorter generally vertical arm and a connection between it and the heatresponsive element, a second bell crank lever pivoted in the housing,having a short generally vertical arm in opposition to the vertical armof the valve actuating lever, a loading spring interposed between thetwo short arma-a screw, threaded in the housing, a manual control buttonsupported thereon outside of the housing, the inside end of the screwengaging the longer arm of the second lever, the metering valve having astem projecting upwardly through the wall of the housing adjacent thecontrol button, a cam carried by the screw adapted to engage the stem ofthe metering valve to force it to closed position independent of thevalve actuating lever.

4. A control means for oil burners and the like comprising a floatchamber, spaced fuel inlet and outlet passages, a bracket associatedwith the fuel inlet, a lever pivoted on the bracket, a oat at one end,and a fuel inlet control valve at the other end of the lever, a meteringvalve for the fuel outlet, yielding means tending to urge themeteringvalve toward the open position, a heat responsive element in thehousing, a valve actuating bell crank lever pivoted on the float leverbracket, having a generally horizontal arm loosely engaging the meteringvalve, a shorter generally vertical arm and a connection between it andthe heat responsive element, a second bell crank lever pivoted in thehousing, having a short generally vertical arm in opposition to the'vertical arm of the valve actuating lever, a loading spring interposedbetween the two short arms, a screw,

threaded in the housing, a manual control but" ton supported thereonoutside of the housing, the' inside end of the screw engaging the longerarm of the second lever, the metering valve having a .stem projectingupwardly through the wall of the housing adjacent the control button, acam car-- ried by the screw adapted to engage the stem of the meteringvalve to force it to closed position independent of the valve actuating1ever,`the cam l being so positioned so as to engage the stem ofoutlet., a heat responsive element in the housing,

a valve actuating bell crank lever pivoted on the float lever bracket,having a generally horizontal arm loosely engaging the metering valve, ashorter generally vertical arm and a connection between it and the heatresponsive element, a second bell crank lever pivoted in the housing,having a short generally vertical arm in opposition to the vertical armof the valve actuating lever, a loading spring interposed between thetwo short arms, a screw, threaded in the housing, va manual controlbutton supported thereon outside of the housing, the inside end of thescrew engaging the longer arm of the second lever, the metering valvehaving a stem projecting upwardly through the Wall of the housingadjacent the control button, a cam carried by the screw adapted toengage the stem of the metering valve to force it to closed positionindependent of the valve actuating lever. 6. Means for controlling 'theflow of liquid fuels and the like including a housing container, a fuelchamber, means for maintaining a supply of liquid fuel therein, a fuelsupply passage leading therefrom and a fuel valve controlling thepassage, the valve having a stem projecting beyond the housing, a valveactuating bell crank lever within the housing engaging the valve at oneend, a heat responsive element enclosed within the housing engaging theother end of the bell crank lever. a second bell crank lever pivotedwithin the housing, a spring adapted lto be compressed be. tween the oneend of the valve actuating lever and the second lever, an adjustingscrew, threaded in the wall of the housing adapted to engage the freeend of the second lever, a manual control member on the free end ofy thescrew where it projects beyond the housing, and a connection betweensaid manual control member and the outer end of said outwardlyprojecting valve stem adapted, in response to a predetermined movementof said `manual control member, positively to urge said valve stemtoward valve closing position. y

7. Means for controlling the flow of liquid fuels and the like includinga housing container, a fuel chamber, means for maintaining a supply ofliquid fuel therein, a fuel supply passage leading therefrom and a fuelvalve controlling the passage, the valve having a stem projecting beyondthe housing, a valve actuating bell crank lever within the housingengaging the valve at one end, a heat responsive element enclosed withinthe housing engaging the other end of the bell crank lever, a secondbell crank lever pivoted within the housing, a spring adapted to becompressed between the one end of the valve actuating lever and` thesecond lever, an adjusting screw, threaded in the w'all of the housingadapted t0 engage the free end of the second lever, a hand wheel on thefree end of the screw where it projects beyond the housing, Va camcarried bg the hand wheel adapted to engage the end of the .valve stemstone end of the excursion oi' the

